Deb­o­rah Lip­scombe — 2014 Heintz­man Lead­er­ship Award Winner

The Institute for Citizen-Centred Service’s (ICCS) Heintzman Leadership Award is a national award presented annually to an individual
who has demonstrated outstanding leadership within the Canadian public
sector in the promotion of citizen-centred service delivery. In
particular, recipients of the Award have demonstrated superior and
sustained leadership that has resulted in transformational change to the
quality of public sector service delivery, both within their own
jurisdictions and across jurisdictional boundaries. Past winners
representing all three orders of government include: Art Daniels, Dave
Millar, Lori MacMullen, Brian Marson, Andrew Mellor, Scott Campbell, Roy
Wiseman, Bob Stark, Sue Corke, David Szwarc and Dan Batista.

The ICCS is proud to announce Deborah Lipscombe as the 2014 Heintzman
Leadership Award winner in recognition of her substantial contributions
to the promotion of, and commitment to, citizen-centred service
delivery in Canada.

Deborah Lipscombe is a Regional Director at Service BC. Deborah has
provided outstanding and collaborative leadership on several projects
within the BC Public Service and with establishing an important network
with Service Canada.

In 2004, Deborah worked on the Leading the Way project in BC which
included the bundling of services so citizens and businesses would have
streamlined decision making and ministries would be able to free up
resources. Later that year, Deborah led a special project team to pilot
the feasibility of the Front Counter BC concept. Under Deborah’s
leadership, the project was a success and there are now 29 Front Counter
BC locations across British Columbia. Deborah has led important
partnerships with other ministries and levels of government

In addition to her work in BC, Deborah has worked with Service Canada
to develop a network of Service Canada/Service BC outreach services for
remote communities. In 2006, Deborah was approached by Service Canada
to help provide “short term” outreach in the northern community of
Mackenzie BC. She clearly saw the benefit of co-offering federal and
provincial services to the citizens of this remote community and through
her vision; Service Canada was able to place staff on the ground within
weeks to provide integrated federal and provincial services to
citizens. Working in partnership with her colleagues in Service Canada,
Deborah continued to grow a network of Service Canada /Service BC
outreach services. Through Deborah’s leadership, this model of
federal/provincial service delivery continues today in various regions
across Canada; her work helped establish a template for integrated
service delivery across Canada that is customized to the local needs of
the community and its citizens.

In 2008, Deborah formed a partnership between with the Energy, Mines
and Petroleum Resources, Labour and Citizens’ Services, BC Archives,
Friends of Barkerville and the Fort Steele Heritage Town. In 2010,
Deborah led a cross-jurisdictional team consisting of Labour and
Citizens’ Services, Justice, Forests Lands and Natural Resource
Operations and Social Development to create a model for a single point
of contact for citizen centred services that could be replicated in
small rural communities. Both of these projects have received Premier’s
Awards.

Deborah’s strong leadership and drive are illustrated in her many
projects, which have contributed to transformational change to the
quality of public service delivery at Service BC. In 2013, BC launched
the BC Services Card and its success required collaboration between
Service BC offices and the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia
(ICBC), Drivers’ Services. Ted Ockenden, of the ICBC, Drivers’ Services
commented, “this was a significant undertaking that required
considerable change management, process and information technology
adaptation. Deborah’s can-do approach and innovation led to this
program being a complete success, with minimal staff impact and optimal
customer impact!”

The winner of the 2014 award truly exemplifies the high expectations embodied in the ICCS Heintzman Leadership Award.